Arado

The Arado AR 196 was a single-engine German seaplane belonging to the Nazi Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe during World War II. In 1943, such a plane entered Swedish airspace in Blekinge. A Swedish cruiser observed the plane and fired warning shots, forcing it to land. It was towed into Karlshamn and the two German crew members were questioned.

The airmen claimed to have entered Swedish territory by mistake. The Swedes suspected espionage but failed to prove it. The Germans were sent home, but the aircraft was seized and placed in Karlskrona.

On 19 April 1947, the aircraft served as a target for the navy’s searchlight drills. When the pilot was about to land, he misjudged the distance to the water and the plane flipped over and sank. With some trouble, the crew managed to get out of the plane.

In 1991, a professional fisherman caught an airplane pontoon in his purse seine. The fisherman told some divers from Karlskrona, who managed to find the aircraft. After some research in newspaper archives, it was found that the wreck they had discovered was the Arado plane that crashed in 1947.

In 2018, the plane was declared an ancient monument. This is the first time that an aircraft has received status and protection as an ancient monument in Sweden.